Mini Mac - New Perfect for Car PCs :)
 

Ok so I just purchased the new Mac Mini. Its Apple's new Macintosh computer that is 6in x 6in x 2in weighing less than three pounds. I purchased this to be my car PC and it was 479.00 (Gotta do student/educational discount) or else its 499. But for the people who know computers this is apples lowest priced computer.

w00t

http://www.apple.com/macmini

Pretty cool stuff. By the way, the correct URL is http://www.apple.com/macmini/ :)

Fixed :D

I was just reading about, and your right - this is a mod for my 8 - Yippeee

how are planning to use this little gadget in your car? just curious, never crossed my mind to put a pc in my car...

I'm going to purchase the AV Electronics Box from Matt at RX8garage.net this year. It has an S-Video input and output. Then I will convert the mac's VGA output to S-Video, and use the AV box to send the graphics to the nav screen. Sound will go to my HU through the PIE interface. I'll order the macmini with Bluetooth and Airport so I can use a wireless keyboard and mouse in the car. When I am home, my wireless Airport Extreme in the house will be in range of my car, so I can access the Internet if needed. I plan on using the macmini for DVD playback, iPod updates, and all the iLife software...

Oh, and I'll still be able to connect my WinXP laptop to the AV box if needed for Hymee's product.

Dude...you're making me wet! :eek:

wow, I can't wait to see this...
I never thought its so easy to do all that stuff in a car...

Coming this summer....

If you think this is interesting, you should see Devoid's RX8 install: http://devoid.mine.nu/

i thought about this too, but being a mac makes me weary about putting it in my car. You wont be able to connect the mac monitor the ecu either. I dont know much about macs, so maybe you can, but I think i'll stick with PCs.

VGA is VGA - it will work. Once I get the signal to S-Video I'm all set. You can use the same keyboard, mouse and monitor for your Mac mini that your PC uses.

I'm thinking that iTunes will be running with visualization on.... That way I do not need my iPod connected if I don't want it. I'll just play tunes off the Minimac instead.

hmm.. w/ the bluetooth capability, all you need is a bluetooth enabled phone and BAM! wireless internet too.. ;)

Once I actually get an RX-8, this is *so* going to happen. I've been keeping an eye out for an older PowerBook to cannibalise for this purpose for a while, and as soon as rumors of the mini started floating about, I knew it was 'the one'. Of course, I'll have to do a build-to-order to get wifi and bluetooth for the ultimate wireless experience.

On the Nav-equipped RX-8's you know where the DVD drive is in the rear console? I'll bet on a non-Nav 8 you could mount the Mac Mini there!

As for software... this guy did it right in a Tatra 613 (of course he built his own case, and the article is older so he describes it with OS X 10.2 instead of the current 10.3).


He's released the sourcecode for his software licenced under the GPL. If I were a developer, I'd make myself wealthy selling Mac Mini carputers with this software bundled as a turnkey system. Unfortunately my programming skills are limited to BASH and a tiny bit of perl, so I'd need help there.

Add a bluetooth GSM/EDGE phone from Cingular, a bluetooth GPS, and Route66 mapping software... All that's missing is a touchscreen display...

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention I'd want 1 or 2 iSight cameras installed - one for video chat on-the-fly (EDGE data bandwidth permitting), and one for rear-view or blind-spot coverage. Maybe integrate them into a security system.:D

There are USB serial ports. If there is "CANScan" tool for Mac / BSD / Linux, you can read the CAN bus in Mac. Further, as was stated, you can use a DVI to S-Video / RCA or DVI to VGA and hook the Mac Mini up to anything.

Now, since you probably can't easily hook up one of the CarPC power supplies to a Mac Mini, I'm thinking you can probably get an APC UPS with the USB power loss alerting, which could auto shut down the machine.

With a little work, I'm sure you could tune the startup to be a bit faster since it is not going to be quite as multi-purpose as a desktop.

As was mentioned, you can use bluetooth to get wireless connectivity. You can also use BluePhoneMenu to alert you of incoming calls, with caller ID display. On top of this, the Mac Mini has WiFi support. Then, as long as you can find a naked WiFi network, you can have FREE wireless connectivity. AND you can sync your MP3s from inside your house w/o taking your box out of your car.

Since you have your option of monitor, you can get a touch screen monitor. Plus, there is inkwell, so you may be able to get away with not using a keyboard.

Do I need to keep going...?

mac mini :P mmMmm

mines ordered.

That idea is great nemesis, keep us posted, I wanna see this.
Sorry for the noob question: do you know if our factory nav system has a 'video-out'? I haven't messed with it at all since I got the car, and someone was asking me the other day (he's considering a dvd player...)

Meggawesome! I just have to wait a few months to get this started. This year is going to be fun with new toys in the 8.

Ok does anyone know of BluePhoneMenu for an XP machine. I am dying for a program like this for my CarPC but haven't been able to find it!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP PLEASE!!!!!!